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| Tokyo Tower |
TOKYO, Japan - Mushi mushi (hello)! Tokyo has been considered by several surveys as one of the most expensive cities in the world. In a recent survey about cost of living standards conducted by Time and published on February 6, 2013, Tokyo and another city Osaka, top the most expensive cities to live. Also, the city has been named the world’s most expensive for all but six years since 1992. I've been to Tokyo four times since 2005 and I can attest to that survey.
However, I can say that Japanese people, generally, are very nice and helpful. On my last trip to Tokyo in 2010, I was having difficulty finding the direction of my hotel because most writings are in Japanese. So I asked a couple who were more than willing to help me. But because its difficult for them to explain to me the direction in English, they simply accompanied me to the hotel. It was about 30-minute walk and it was raining on that night. I don't have an umbrella but the lady lent me hers. It was a great act of helping. I thank them by saying domo arigatu gusaimasu (thank you very much) and they were happy that I can speak a little of their languange.
The first weekend was long because Monday was also a public holiday. My colleague, his wife and I went to Tokyo Disneyland (www.disney.co.jp). According to wikipedia.org, Tokyo Disneyland is a 115-acre theme park (more than twice the area of Universal Studio Singapore at 49 acres) at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983. The park was constructed by Walt Disney Imagineering in the same style as Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. It is owned by The Oriental Land Company, which licenses the theme from The Walt Disney Company. Tokyo Disneyland and its companion park, Tokyo DisneySea, are the only Disney parks not owned by the Walt Disney Company.
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| Tokyo Disneyland |
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| Asakusa Temple |
There are seven themed areas in the park: the World Bazaar; the four classic Disney lands: Adventureland, Westernland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland; and two mini-lands: Critter Country and Mickey's Toontown. The park is noted for its extensive open spaces, to accommodate the large crowds that visit the park, In 2009, Tokyo Disneyland hosted approximately 13.65 million guests, ranking it as the third-most visited theme park in the world, behind its American sister parks, Magic Kingdom in Orlando and Disneyland Park in Anaheim. In 2011, the park hosted 14 million visitors, again ranking it as the world's third most visited theme park.
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| Sensoji Market |
On the second weekend, I went to Asakusa, a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. The place is also good for shopping souvenirs.
My trip this time was more enjoyable and more informative than the previous trips I had because I was able to explore the city by myself. I took the train system which looks very complicated on the map but I realized that it was not so complex after all.
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